Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy Onassis(b. 28th July 1929 in Southampton, New York, USA) was the wife of the 35th President of the United States, John F.Kennedy, and served as First Lady during his presidency from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. She was later married to Greek shipping magnate Aristole Onassis from 1968 until his death in 1975. In later years she had a successful career as a book editor. She is well known for her style and elegance.

She was the daughter of John Vernou Bouvier III, a Wall Street stockbroker, and his wife Janet Norton Lee. She had a younger sister, Caroline Lee Bouvier, born in 1933, and later known as Lee Radziwill.

She was of mostly French, Irish, Scottish, and English descent and has spent her early years between New York City and Easthampton, New York at the Bouvier family estate "Lasata". Ata very early age she became an accomplished equestrienne, a sport that would remain a lifelong passion. As a child, she also enjoyed drawing, reading and lacrosse. This idyllic childhood came to an end when her parents divorced in 1940.

Her father did not remarry. In 1942 her mother married second husband Standard Oil heir Hugh D. Auchincloss, Jr., and they two children, Janet and James Auchincloss.

She was educated at selective schools such as the Holton-Arms School in Washington (1942-1944) and Miss Porter's School in Farmington, Connecticut (1944-1947).

She would also spend her first two years of college at Vassar in Poughkeepsie, New York, and spent her junior year (1949-1950) in France at the University of Grenoble and The Sorbonne in a program through Smith College. Upon returning home to the United States, she transferred to The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., graduating in 1951 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in French Literature. Her college graduation coincided with younger sister Lee's graduation from high school, and the two sisters spent the summer of 1951 on a trip through Europe. She and then-congressmen John Kennedy were in the same social circle and often attended the same functions, when they met in May 1952 they were formally introduced. Their engagement was officially announced on June 25, 1953.

They were married on September 12, 1953, at St. Mary's Church in Newport, Rhode Island. The wedding was performed by Archbishop Richard Cushing. The wedding was considered the social event of the season with an estimated 700 guests at the ceremony and 900 at the lavish reception that followed at Hammersmith Farm. Her wedding dress was created by designer Ann Lowe of New York City. The dress is now housed in the Kennedy Library in Boston, Massachusetts.

Sadly in 1955, she suffered a miscarriage in 1955 and gave birth to a stillborn baby girl in 1956. All these put considerable strain on the marriage and led to a brief separation. However, the couple reconciled and made a fresh start.

They sold their estate, Hickory Hill in Virginia, and moved to a townhouse on N Street in Georgetown. She successfully gave birth to a second daughter, Caroline, in 1957, and a son, John, in 1960, both via Caesarian section.

When her husband won the US Presidential election in 1960, she became one of the youngest First Ladies in history, just behind Frances Folsom Cleveland and Julia Tyler.

Early in 1963 she became pregant again and cancelled her official duties. She spent most of the summer in the Kennedy family's Cape Cod compound at Hyannis Port, where she went into premature labor on August 7, 1963. She gave birth to a baby boy, named Patrick Bouvier Kennedy, via emergency Caesarian section at Otis Air Force Base, five and a half weeks early. Because his lungs were not fully developed, he could not breathe and was air-lifted to Boston Children's Hospital wher he was placed in an oxygen-rich, pressurized room. He died of Hyaline Membrane which is now known as Respiratory Distress Syndrome) on August 9, 1963. The couple was devestated by the loss of their infant son, and that tragedy brought them closer together than ever before.

Then later that same year her husband was assisinated and after his death she took an active role in planning the details of the state funeral for her husband, based on Lincoln's state funeral, including the riderless horse and Lincoln catafalque on which his coffin rested in the Capitol rotunda. She led the nation in mourning as the President lay in repose at the White House and then lay in state in the Capitol. The funeral service was held for the President at St. Matthew's Cathedral. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetary and Jackie was the first to light the eternal flame at the grave site, which had been created at her request.

In 1965 she visited the United Kingdom for their official memorial to President Kennedy at Runnymede, England with Queen Elizabeth in attendance.

In 1968 she married again to Greek shipping magnate Aristole Onassis. She remained married to him until his death in 1975. Later that same year she accepted a job offer as an editor at Viking Press.

In January 1994, she was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphona, a form of cancer. Her diagnosis was announced to the public the following month. But in April that same year the cancer had spread and died the following month aged 64. She was buried at Saint Ignatius Loyola Roman Catholic Church at Park Avenue and East 84th Street in Manhattan.